"Whatever happened to . . .?" is a weekly series updating some of the most newsworthy and interesting local stories covered in The Plain Dealer. Have a suggestion on a story we should update? Send it to John C. Kuehner at jkuehner@plaind.com.

Whatever happened to the two remaining Hulett ore unloaders on Whiskey Island and the plans to restore them?

Nothing. The pieces sit where they have been for 13 years, like some titanic model kit awaiting assembly.

There had been four of the 880-ton mechanical marvels on the Cleveland lakefront. They were built in 1911 to unload ore boats at the former Pennsylvania Railroad Ore Dock, now owned by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.

Invented by Cleveland engineer George H. Hulett in 1898, the devices revolutionized ship unloading, accomplishing in hours what had taken days of manual labor. Huletts were in many Great Lakes ports, including 14 monstrous machines in Cleveland.

But self-unloading ore boats eventually rendered the Huletts as extinct as the dinosaurs they resembled, and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority wanted the dock space the remaining four machines occupied on Whiskey Island.

They ceased operation in 1992. Two were cut apart over three months in 2000 and sold for scrap.

The other two were disassembled, and are resting in peace – and rusty pieces – on the grounds of the port authority's Cleveland Bulk Terminal on Whiskey Island.

They are surrounded by a sea of the taconite pellets they used to unload. Now the mighty steel machines arereturning to nature while the iron-ore pellets wait to become manufactured steel.

The Huletts have been out in the open for more than a decade, exposed to sun, wind, rain, snow and ground moisture. They have not been coated, covered or lubed in all of that time.

The good news is that they sit by a fresh-water lake, not a salty ocean that would accelerate their decline.

Their dormancy also means they are not at risk of metal fatigue, said James D. McGuffin-Cawley, chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University's School of Engineering.

Rust will continue to grow into the metal, said Joe Payer, Chief Scientist at the University of Akron's National Center for Education & Research for Corrosion & Materials Performance.

Payer, a nationally recognized expert on the topic, said that really aggressive corrosion could claim up to 10 mils (1 mil = one thousandth of an inch) a year, devouring an inch in 100 years.

He said any attempt to stop the process or reverse it "would not be inexpensive or quick."

But all of that is academic as long as all of the interested parties debate among themselvesabout who is at fault for dismantling the Huletts, and who is responsible for restoring or relocating what is left of them.

The Army Corps of Engineers has a lot to say about the future of the Huletts, because the port authority applied for a new dredging permit in 2005. The corps has yet to issue the permit. It says it is following procedure. The port disagrees.

The Committee to Save the Huletts complains that the Port Authority acted unlawfully in destroying two of the Huletts 13 years ago, and that the U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers unlawfully granted the port a dredging permit in the late 1990s without considering the project's impact on the historic Huletts. The committee wants nothing less than the full restoration of two Huletts and to have them on non-working static display somewhere near the lakefront or the Cuyahoga River.

Ray Saikus, a mechanical engineer and one of the driving forces on the committee, was part of a 1999 lawsuit against the port and the Army, demanding that they comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, that the Army and port pay for restoration of the Huletts, and cease any activities threatening to historical elements of the bulk terminal.

The court ruled two years later that the Army violated the historicpreservation act by issuing a dredging permit without adequate hearings on historic impact.

The port had been dismissed as a defendant shortly after the suit was filed. By the time the judge ruled, two Huletts had been destroyed and two dismantled.

The port maintains that it broke no laws over a decade ago and needs a new dredging permit because silting will eventually limit the number of ore carriers that can tie up at the terminal. The port, which owns the Huletts, wants to move them because they are taking up valuable space.

David Cuppage, an attorney for the port authority, has told the Army that the port is the only one to propose a practical solution for a public display that would underscore the historic importance of the Huletts.

Will Friedman, the port's president & chief executive officer, said he favors displaying the bucket and a leg of one Hulett, near the Cuyahoga River or lakefront, possibly at the Great Lakes Science Center.

The Army has incorporated that idea into its most recent proposed memorandum dated Nov. 9, 2012. Once signed, the corps is willing to issue the permit.

Bruce Sanders, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said in a telephone interview last monththat "the proposed dredging is considered to be part of the expansion plan for the Cleveland Bulk Terminal, a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

"As part of the expansion, the applicant removed or demolished the historically contributing resources in order to increase the tonnage of bulk material that could be stored on-site," Sanders wrote. "The Corps has determined that the removal of the historically important structures from the project site constitutes and adverse effect on the (property)."

The port authority argues that the city of Cleveland Landmarks Commission approved the demolition of two Huletts, that the port has no plans to expand the facility, and that there is no linkage between the Huletts and the new request to dredge.

Saikus, who wrote a history of the Huletts for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, also said the city of Cleveland failed in its duty to protect historical artifacts.

City Planning Director Bob Brown said in an email that "the City's downtown lakefront plan calls for multi-story, mixed-use development, potentially including offices, housing, hotels, restaurants and retail uses, bordered by a public promenade along the water's edge. Reconstruction of the Huletts on the lakefront, given theirmassive size, would not complement this plan, which was created with significant public input over the past several years.

"However, the City would support an initiative to memorialize the Huletts in an exhibit at the Science Center, as an important piece of Cleveland's industrial history," he said.

The Army hopes to have the memorandum wrapped up by Labor Day, but there is no guarantee. The only certainty is the progress of the rust until agreement is reached.

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